Booking Your Train Trip in China

As you will read in many guidebooks, train tickets are only sold at rail stations, and typically 10 days before the day of departure. Being used to planning my entire trip in advance and booking everything online, this became a big inconvenience for me, for two reasons: 1. the best trains / seats are generally [...]

Xitang: A ‘Picture Perfect’ Canal Town Near Shanghai

As I plan for my upcoming trip to China, I’m gathering some information on places to go (and how to get there) and tips that can help keep me out of trouble, but also add some uniqueness to the trip beyond the major Shanghai-Beijing touristic itinerary.
I had heard that Xitang could be an interesting water [...]